Neighbours thought Daniella Green, 36, had won the lottery when the £1.2million luxury home was put up.

But she was a gangster’s girlfriend whose six-bedroom, four-bathroom detached spread with swimming pool was financed by the illegal activities of David Statham.

Statham, nicknamed “Big Nose” and “The Beak”, ran a gang who smuggled 250kg cannabis shipments in lorries from Spain into the UK in a year.

In 2001 he was jailed for nine years for conspiracy to supply drugs. After his release he was killed in a quad bike crash aged 44 in 2006 and Green took sole control of the property in Littleborough, Lancs, as her name was on the deeds of Marlborough House.

She was arrested after police raided a safety deposit box she set up in Manchester and found £117,000 in cash.

At Manchester Crown Court Green ­admitted facilitating the retention of ­criminal property and was given a suspended jail sentence and ordered to sell the mansion to repay £535,000 under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Green’s lawyer Chris Daw said Statham was a vicious psychopath who took control of her life when she was just 17.

But DC John Conroy of Greater Manchester Police said: “Without people like Daniella Green organised crime would not be able to flourish.’’